Richard Charles Albert Holbrooke

Richard Charles Albert Holbrooke is "a Vice Chairman of Perseus LLC and is a former Vice Chairman of Credit Suisse First Boston and a former Managing Director of Lehman Brothers." He is a Director of Refugees International "serving as chairman of Refugees International from 1996 to 1999, two-time board member of the International Rescue Committee, founding chairman of the American Academy in Berlin, director of the Council on Foreign Relations." 

Holbrooke "most recently served as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations from 1999 until 2001 and was a member of President William Jefferson Clinton's cabinet. As Assistant Secretary of State for Europe from 1994 until 1996, he was the chief architect of the 1995 Dayton Peace Accords that ended the war in Bosnia. From 1993 through 1994, he was the U.S. Ambassador to Germany. During the James Earl Carter, Jr. Administration from 1977 through 1981, he served as the Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, and was in charge of U.S. relations with China at the time Sino-American relations were normalized in December 1978. After joining the Foreign Service in 1962, he held assignments in Vietnam, the State Department and the White House."

"Ambassador Holbrooke has been a Peace Corps Director in Morocco, the Managing Editor of Foreign Policy, and has written numerous articles, two books (To End A War, a memoir of the Dayton negotiations, and Counsel to the President, Clark M. Clifford's memoir (as co-author), and one volume of The Pentagon Papers. He has received twelve honorary degrees and numerous awards, including six Nobel Peace Prize nominations."

"Ambassador Holbrooke serves as a Board Member of AIG, Coca-Cola, AOL Time Warner and Human Genome Sciences. On the non-governmental organization side, he serves as Chairman of the American Academy in Berlin, a center for U.S.-German cultural exchange, and President/CEO of the Global Business Council on HIV/AIDS. He is also a member of the Board of Refugees International (and former Chairman), the Council on Foreign Relations, the National Endowment for Democracy, the American Museum of Natural History, the Telluride Foundation, the International Advisory Board, the Citizens Committee and the Africa-America Institute.

Married to Kati Marton. 

From the Perseus LLC web site.

Additionally, Holbrooke serves on the Advisory Board of Public Strategies, Inc., a firm specializing in crisis-management public relations.


 * Director, American Himalayan Foundation
 * Director, Humpty Dumpty Institute
 * Director, Malaria no More
 * Advisory Board, Partnership for a Secure America
 * Member, National Coalition on Asia and International Education in the Schools
 * National Honorary Advisory Council, Council for America's First Freedom
 * Co-Founder & Former Co-Chairman, United Against Nuclear Iran
 * Honorary Trustee, Dayton International Peace Museum
 * Advisory Committee, AIDS, Security and Conflict Initiative
 * Former Board member, Dayton Peace Accords Project
 * Advisory Board (chair), America Bosnia Foundation

Countrywide mortgage scandal
Holbrooke was among the prominent politicians who may have received favorable mortgage deals from Countrywide, a mortgage lender at the heart of the current mortgage crises. According to an investigation conducted by Conde Nast's Portfolio, Countrywide's V.I.P program may have bent rules to offer Holbrooke and his family members a multitude of better mortgage deals which saved them thousands of dollars on interest payments.

External Resources

 * See how you compare to Richard Holbrooke

Related Sourcewatch articles

 * banking
 * Public Strategies, Inc.
 * Derek Chollet - served as his chief speechwriter
 * Benjamin Skinner